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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> this is "bbc world news america," reporting from washington. africa's worst food crisis in decades threatens millions. the youngest victims are paying the highest price. >> the doctors in this clinic work frantically to save as many lives as they can. often, they have to register the names of their patients in the clinic's death book. >> is anyone exempt from britain's phone hacking? the scandal spreads from the pages of rupert murdoch's newspaper to the walls of parliament. >> the shuttle has cleared the tower. -- the tunnel. >> it is countdown for the space shuttle final launch. we hear from one at nasa veteran

who was there from the start. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. aid agencies have issued an urgent appeal for help for millions affected by drought in east africa. the crisis has been particularly cruel to somalia, kenya, uganda, and ethiopia. more than 300,000 people have walked days to get to the refugee camp in kenya. ben brown has been there for a week. >> among the refugees at this camp, there are hundreds of lost children and orphans. some got separated from their families on the long walk from somalia. others, like abdi and his sister, no longer have parents.

their father died in somalia's civil war. last month, their mother was killed as well. >> it is better here. back in somalia, there was war. we have no relatives there, so we fled here. we now have a foster mother to look after us. >> in the camp hospital, these children have parents, but little else. drought and war mean their bodies have been horribly weakened by malnutrition. by the time they reach this clinic, it can be too late. the doctors in this clinic are working frantically to save as many lives as they can. too often, they have to register the names of their patience in this, the "death book." inside, the names of the children who have died recently are registered by date. on some days, two or three children here have lost their fight for life. the causes of their death are

registered as a variety of illnesses and diseases. the root cause is always the same thing -- chronic malnutrition. he is one year old, and so frail that like many children here he is causing doctors serious concern. >> we need food, water, medicine, shelter, and everything else that a human being needs. we are never going back to somalia. >> hospital staff told me they are under resources and overstretched. they need the world to help. a donkey-drawn cart is the makeshift ambulance to bring in fresh casualties to the clinic. it is not only children, but the elderly who are vulnerable to non attrition. this drought, the worst in 60 years, is killing young and old alike. it may sound strange, but aid workers say the people who are

here are comparatively well-off. at least they have basic supplies of food, water, and medicine. there are something like nine or 10 million people affected by this drought. many of them have had no help at all. >> joining me in the studio is ian rodgers, a senior emergency advisor with save the children. i want to pick up with what dan was saying, that there are so many people outside these refugee camps. how much worse does this have potential to get? >> people are traveling a long distance. it has been an ongoing situation, not rapid onset. people have been suffering for some time. obviously, numbers have increased dramatically. >> in the camp, do they have what they need once they make it? >> refugee camps are being serviced. but those supplies and things we need to be able to respond are limited. obviously, the numbers are the

biggest problem we face. >> what are the numbers you are looking at? we know these numbers are hard for people to get their heads around. we are talking about huge numbers of people in need of help. >> if a look at kenya and the somali population moving at -- moving across kenya, you are looking at 3.5 million at least that are potentially affected. >> the problem has been drought and civil war, the combination of the two. >> that is a lethal combination. the situation of why people have to cross an international border -- the mechanisms that would normally be in place to support a population in that country are not available. they have to take a very long trek to turn around and reach support. >> today, the aid agencies got together and issued an appeal for help. what is it you need most immediately? >> at the moment, any funding that is possible is what we need to carry out the activities.

the biggest thing we are facing is being able to supply water, to treat the malnutrition we are seeing. at the moment, coming into these camps it is as high as 45% the we are seeing sick people who are severely malnourished. the food supplies in the medical needs to be able to treat the disease is that come along with malnutrition, such as diarrhea. >> what is the timeline? how soon do you need help? >> as i say, the situation has been ongoing. the alarm bells going off last september. we are behind the curve. we need to get these medicines and food and water and materials in immediately. otherwise, the situation is going to turn catastrophic, worse than what it already is. >> ian rodgers, thank you for coming in. now to london, where one of the world's most powerful media moguls is under fire tonight. rupert murdoch has promised full cooperation after it has been

revealed that one of his papers, "news of the world," hacked phones and paid police of the search for information. murdoch called it an acceptable. that was nothing compared to the reaction of parliament, who found the families of london bombing victims may have been targeted. >> there was worse to come. ministers warned their phones may have been hacked on behalf of "news of the world," the families of those whose loved ones were blown apart on 7/7. >> my mind went back to 2005 and the emotional turmoil and state we were in. it is a violation, isn't it? >> on the list of possible targets -- the parents of holly and jessica, who died. and of course, millie, whose parents were given false hope she was still alive when her

voice messages were deleted after her phone was allegedly attacked by a private investigator. -- hacked by a private investigator. the premise -- prime minister returned from afghanistan to learn of the brewing storm. >> we need inquiries into what has happened. we are no longer talking about politicians and celebrities. we are talking about murder victims, potentially terrorist victims, having their phones hacked. it is disgusting. >> what happened in the newsroom is being investigated by 50 police officers. now there are inquiries into why the police took so long to take this seriously, and the widest -- wider question of what is wrong with british media. at the helm of the empire is rebecca brooks, editor at the time of the alleged hacking. company executives say that she

was away at the time. this began with the imprisonment for years ago of editor clive goodman. >> i made a statement yesterday. with judicial restraints, i can make no more at the moment. >> it is his reams of notes of private phone numbers that have fueled this saga, that and the mounting anger of mps who alleged the police simply did not want to investigate what he had done. rupert murdoch issued a statement describing what had happened as deplorable and unacceptable, stating the company must fully cooperate with the police, and adding that would happen under rebecca brooks's leadership. murdoch's enemies have long claimed that whoever is in power, he is the puppet master. tonight, no one knows how this extraordinary drama will and.

nick robinson, bbc news, westminster. >> for more on this extraordinary drama, i spoke to a bbc reporter in london. i asked about bribes to london police officers. >> it seems every hour a new revelation has come about. we have even been told to be braced for worse revelations. but surely it has been those in the last couple of days which have really shocked mps and the public, particularly the idea that a murder victim had her voice mail hacked. but also that the relatives of the london bombings in 2005 -- that the victims had their voice mail hacked as well. a great deal of outrage in the house of commons today, a lot directed personally at rupert murdoch. he has released a statement saying he finds what happened deplorable and unacceptable.

but interestingly, he is standing by the most senior british executive at news corporation. that is rebecca brooks. many mps here want her to quit. >> what are the political implications, both in terms of david cameron, who is a friend of rebecca broke, but also the role of police officers? they should have been protecting the public against this sort of thing. >> that is right. the role of the police has drawn particular attention. the idea that they might have been involved in some kind of corruption, taking backhanders from news international, a troubled some mps. the thing to remember about why mps are so upset is that they have been conducting their own inquiries for the past few years. that has meant that they have called before them executives from news international and senior policemen.

they asked about these allegations and feel misled by both groups of people. from the police, they feel they did not get to the bottom of what had happened. they did not take the original allegations seriously enough. they are also very angry at those news international executives that they have kept to this defense that they did not know what was going on at their paper because it was a few rogue reporters, a few bad apples. mps now say that defense looks untenable. >> in london, a story that keeps getting more astonishing. thanks very much. in other news from around the world, an earthquake has struck the islands northeast of new zealand. that triggered tsunami warnings for tomba and new zealand. the u.s. pacific warning center says there may be obstruction's near the epicenter.

young chang has been chosen to host the winter games -- p'yongyang has been chosen to host the winter games. it will be the first city in asia outside of japan to host the winter olympics. the duke and duchess of cambridge have continued their tour of canada, traveling to alberta. they will meet fire fighters and people whose homes were destroyed by a wildfires in may. the new head of the international monetary fund, christine lagarde, has given her first press conference since taking over. she stressed there was much to do and the world economy is turning around. afterwards, she sat down with our economic editor, who joins us in the studio. what did it feel like for her to go into the head position of an international monetary organization, knowing half the world does not want her there? >> i suspect she does not feel that way. she is an incredibly confident person who would never give away any sign of a lack of

confidence. she was the first female head of the u.s. law firm baker mckenzie. you do not get to that job without being able to handle a few miscreants inside the imf. some people in the imf are quite happy she is a woman. they are relishing the novelty she is a woman. but in other respects, there are 187 members in the imf. there have been 11 managing directors. but they have all been european and five of them have been french. i asked her whether she felt her credibility was undermined by the fact that she was just another european. >> you may have noticed that before i was elected i went around the world, essentially to explain what i stood for. i made a point of visiting emerging market economies, because there were comments and concerns that this was yet another european. i made it clear that i was

coming as a candidate caring as much for emerging market economies, low-income countries , as it developed economies, including the european ones. >> i talked to her later on and joked to her that was there a particular something about french wine, perhaps that may do very good at running the imf. she said it may be improves your longevity. she used it as a way to say she expected to go the full five years in office, a comparison to her predecessor, who left early. >> she is taking over in a time of controversy. i am not sure we would be so focused on her were it not for the situation in which she takes over. >> she did not want to talk about it. like all the senior people at the imf, she has been distancing herself from everything to do with the case. she thought obviously the

institution have had a shock and needed to get over that. we discussed briefly that in her contract, as is not the case of her predecessor, she has had to agree to uphold the highest standards of ethical conduct -- conduct. that is a visible manifestation of the last few weeks. she should be thinking the manhattan district attorney for her job, but she thought that was an inappropriate question. >> you have studied. is it your assessment she is the right person? >> if you take into account the fact that she has a european passport, she was the best candidate who was likely to win. she may not be the person who was the best in the entire world. what was really striking and what we know is that very quickly china supported her, not just the europeans. the brazilians also made clear there would not support another candidate. it was clear she was going to win because the emerging markets had not come up with an alternative. >> we wish her the best of luck.

you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come. >> 3, 2, 1. >> approaching the end of an era. tonight's first person looks back on what defined the last three decades. bbc journalists have held another vigil in london, demanding the release of their colleague, the radio reporter who was distained -- detained by authorities three weeks ago. he was accused of belonging to an islamic organization, but these charges have been dropped. the bbc reject all the allegations. the background of this story and the most recent call for action. >> the charges against him, the allegations against him, we do not believe. >> everyone is astonished a professional journalist could be

arrested simply for talking to members of an islamist organizations. >> what has happened to our colleague is part of a wider campaign by the tajik authorities against anyone expected of having any links with islamic groups. >> the answer lies in the growing number of people in tajikistan drawn to islamic organizations. one party wants an islamic caliphate established across central asia, through peaceful means. in some parts of tajikistan, the military has launched operations in recent years against other militant groups which are armed. they are alleged to have links to al qaeda and the taliban in neighboring afghanistan. security forces claim success. but alongside these operations have been many arrests of people on the flimsiest of grounds. so the people of this

traditional muslim country could be pushed into the arms of radical groups by the government's own heavy-handed tactics, and the continued poverty and corruption that blights their lives. bbc news. >> it was billed as an awesome deal. two of the online world biggest names announced they were teaming up a. facebook is announcing a chat service that will be provided by skype, which is being bought by microsoft. for more, i am joined from san francisco by the editor at large of cnet. remember you are speaking to a technical neophyte. what does this mean you will be able to do that you could not before? >> if you are looking at a list

of your friends on facebook, which is the court to what facebook is all about, there is a simple click to have a video chat with them, a video call, using the skype software you use to have to leave facebook to use. now you can do a chat or call without leaving facebook. this is big for facebook. i do not know it is revolutionary for the user. >> all the people using facebook -- i understand a lot of people are deciding they do not want to use facebook. do they want to have a chat and video conferences? i thought that was more of their work scenario. >> with this audience, with any audience, this kind of video chat behavior is for the minority of your interactions. if you are in a certain place, once you introduce visual and audio cues, you have to have a controlled environment. i cannot do a video chat with you while i am on the bus going to work. that is complicated.

i can always do a text chat. this is a rich interface for a minority of your communications. but facebook once those to happen within facebook, and not have you leave to use your skype program. >> i think i understand the technical side of this. one thing that seems to be clear from the business side is it comes in the same week that google announced its social network. it is trying to take on facebook as well. who is winning that battle? >> it depends how you measure it. on sheer numbers, no one touches facebook. during today's awesome announcement, which was not all that awesome, they mentioned they have 750 million users. last time we checked, they said 500 million and the media went nuts. it is a big number. you have google trying to come from behind. they have 240 million users of gmail. even if they can convert all of those to use the new google

plus, they would still be trailing dramatically. on sheer numbers, google has catching up to do. >> one company we have not mentioned is microsoft. is microsoft the secret winner in all of this? >> it depends how they handle skype. that acquisition by microsoft is still pending, still under review. we expect it will go through, but it will take time. only then will we know what microsoft will do to improve or screw up skype. they could go either way. the history on this is 50/50. until we know what microsoft will do with skype and how they might integrate with facebook, it is hard to say. in general, we were disappointed in the tech business by how uninteresting this face -- the announcement was. what they have done is play catch-up. they have not moved the ball forward. >> an awesome interview on an

un-awesome deal. and you for joining us. not to florida, where all eyes are on the sky to see if the weather will cooperate for the final launch of the space shuttle. after three decades and 135 missions, this chapter of nasa history will roar to a close. for many who work at the kennedy space center, this is a bittersweet moment. we hear from one veteran of the space program who revels in his decades there. >> my name is paul sharp. i just retired from 45 years from working at the kennedy space center. >> the shuttle has cleared the tower. >> all the launches i have seen have been expected. it is a magnificent flying machine. you sit there in all even though you have worked on them and seen them for so many years. it is still an amazing machine. when i first announced that i worked on the environmental control system that supplied the

controlled air for the apollo spacecraft. it was very exciting. everyone who worked here was excited to be part of it. we were pioneering what you could do. i was lucky enough to be chosen to work on the lunar rover. the first vehicle that came down here did not have any american flags on the fenders. they sent a package of five flags. i carefully put four on the fenders. i asked the astronaut office if they would autograph despair. they did. both the primary and backup crew. i still have that flagon am proud of that. these are some of the pictures i have that i cherish, which were signed by the crews because we supported them. you have these things and you cherish them very much. the space shuttle program in is

a sad time. it has been 30 years and it has been a part of so many people's lives. in has been such a stellar program for this nation. i, like everybody out there, hate to see it come to an end. it has given this nation, the united states, such an honor to have such a successful program. in my career at the kennedy space center, i feel lucky i have been able to have such a magnificent career. i could have retired at an earlier age. i just did not want to. it has been such a part of me for so many years. it is like family. >> paul sharp on his decades of work at nasa. you can get more on the launch on our website. that is it for today's broadcast. for all of us here, thanks for watching. see you tomorrow.

>> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its

global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.